BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Saturday called for calm in the southern Dhi Qar province following days of protests that killed five and injured dozens.
On Friday, Governor Nazim al-Waili resigned after the demonstrations in the provincial capital Nasiriyah. Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, the head of the National Security Service, was named as a new governor.
In a statement, al-Kadhimi’s media office said the appointment of a new governor, the formation of an advisory council and launching an investigation into the deadly protests "mark a major campaign to rebuild the province”.
The Iraqi premier called for calm in the province "to give sufficient opportunity to the new administration to carry out its tasks in the service of the city’s people”.
Cautious calm prevailed in the province on Saturday, amid tight security measures, according to eyewitnesses.
Home to more than two million people, Dhi Qar province has been a hotbed for demonstrations in Iraq that began in October 2019 to protest unemployment, and lack of public services.
The clashes continued on Friday evening after a week of violence that erupted on Sunday when security forces fired to disperse protesters, who were trying to storm the provincial government building using rocks and Molotov cocktails.
Protesters were demanding the removal of the governor and justice for protesters killed since 2019.
Iraq’s biggest protests in decades broke out in October 2019 and continued for months, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demanding jobs and services.
Prime Minister al-Kadhimi, who took office in May 2020, has pledged justice for activists killed or abused by armed groups.